Aldermen call for hearings on lead in water at Chicago schools

Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune

Chicago Public Schools Superintendent Forrest Claypool gets ready for a board meeting on May 25, 2016. On June 13, CPS announced five more schools tested for elevated levels of lead, bringing to 19 buildings where tests have uncovered lead levels that exceed a federal standard of 15 parts per billion.

Chicago Public Schools Superintendent Forrest Claypool gets ready for a board meeting on May 25, 2016. On June 13, CPS announced five more schools tested for elevated levels of lead, bringing to 19 buildings where tests have uncovered lead levels that exceed a federal standard of 15 parts per billion.

Chicago Public Schools said Monday that elevated levels of toxic lead have been found in the water at five more buildings, including a South Side school for disabled children, while a group of aldermen called for public hearings on the issue.

Blair Early Childhood Center, a specialty school for disabled children between the ages of 3 and 6, is among 19 CPS buildings where tests have uncovered lead levels that exceed a federal standard of 15 parts per billion. Some test samples at Blair rank among the highest levels of lead detected since districtwide water testing was launched last month.

Like many of the 74 schools where water test results have been collected, samples in late May from fixtures at Blair contained a wide range of lead levels. High lead levels were found in three sinks and one drinking fountain, CPS said.

Water from one sink at the Clearing-area school showed lead levels as high as 1,100 parts per billion, while the water fountain showed levels as high as 357 parts per billion, according to test results released by the district. The district said the sink is in an office and is rarely used.

Before CPS released the test results Monday that added five schools to the total with high lead levels, several of Mayor Rahm Emanuel's critics on the City Council called for hearings on lead in school water.

"I think what we need, and what we're looking for, is a comprehensive plan to address the issue of lead in water in the city of Chicago," said Ald. Scott Waguespack, 32nd, who joined Ald. Chris Taliaferro, 29th, and other members of the council's Progressive Reform Caucus to demand hearings.

Aldermen said they had not contacted the committee chairmen who would have to agree to the hearings. Instead, they called the media to a news conference.

"Our children in our communities are facing so many challenges right now, from school funding to social service agency cuts to a lack of a state budget to gun violence. But this is a solvable problem. Lead shouldn't be in our vocabulary in this day and age," Taliaferro said.

CPS said it has tested water at 224 of 324 school buildings that were constructed prior to 1986 and have pre-kindergarten programs. So far, the district said it has received test results for 74 schools. The district, which says it will eventually test the water at all schools, plans to schedule "regional information meetings" for community members to discuss the issue.

In a statement, CPS spokeswoman Emily Bittner said the district "would be happy" to testify about its lead testing alongside the city's public health and water management departments.

The district expanded lead testing to all of its 600-plus schools after a pilot effort begun in...

High levels of lead have been found in water at an additional 11 Chicago elementary schools, with results from tests at scores of other buildings yet to come in, Chicago Public Schools said Wednesday.

The district expanded lead testing to all of its 600-plus schools after a pilot effort begun in...

(Juan Perez Jr.)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's "action level" for lead of 15 parts per billion, spelled out in the 1991 Lead and Copper Rule, was intended to flag corrosion problems in a community's lead pipes and plumbing. Rather than basing the standard on the health hazards posed by lead, regulators chose the limit largely because at the time they thought it could be met by most water systems.

According to the latest results from the district, water fountains in the basement of Wentworth Elementary in West Englewood, showed lead readings as high as 170 parts per billion. A water fountain on the school's second floor tested as high as 35.5 parts per billion.

At Reilly Elementary on the Northwest Side, four drinking fountains and four sinks showed high levels, CPS officials said. Samples from a water fountain on Reilly's main floor showed lead levels as high as 340 parts per billion, according to a summary of tests conducted June 8. Kindergarten room sinks in the school's annex also showed high levels, including one result that landed at 354 parts per billion. The district said it will retest the water at Reilly this week.

The district said it is turning off any water sources where testing shows lead above the federal standards.

Late last week, city health and district officials said preliminary testing indicated that a handful of students who attend Tanner Elementary on the South Side, the first school where high levels of lead were found in the water, had elevated levels of lead in their bloodstreams. Follow-up tests were planned.

Follow-up tests on the students at Tanner were needed to confirm the initial test results, said Dr. Julie Morita, head of the Chicago Department of Public Health.

A version of this article appeared in print on June 14, 2016, in the News section of the Chicago Tribune with the headline "Aldermen want hearings on lead testing in schools - CPS : Elevated levels in water at 5 more buildings" —
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